October 08, 2009

Looking ahead

Many people who look ahead to the future economy see many problems, such as debt, energy or finding good-paying jobs. Other people see opportunities. Which do you see?

Dr. Mike Walden, North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, responds:

"Well, I actually see both, and I think many economists see both. There's no question that we have many challenging problems or issues. Of course, I challenge anyone to say when we didn't have these things, but we certainly have the ones mentioned, probably some others. But if there's one thing to say about our economy - particularly our American economy - it is that when there are problems, there will be people out there trying to find solutions, and solution seeking obviously creates opportunities. So I see and many economists see in the next 15, 20, 30 years a high level of what we would call entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurs are people who go out and try to find opportunities to make money. But the way to make money, I think, in many cases in the next few decades is to find solutions to these problems. So I see a lot of opportunities for new investments, new companies, new employment in areas like energy efficiency, dealing with the climate, creating healthier lives, expanding useful application of technology. So yes, there are problems. There are issues. But I think there are a lot of exciting potential opportunities also down the road."